Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley exhibit in the south east

Contemporary visual art fans will be heading for the coast this summer as international artists Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley display their work in Margate and Bexhill.

In Margate, Emin's latest work was commissioned by Arts Council England regularly funded organisation, Turner Contemporary, with support from Thanet District Council.

The piece, a bright pink neon sign emblazoned with the words I Never Stopped Loving You, hangs above the entrance to Droit House on Stone Pier. Hundreds turned up on 30 April to see it unveiled.

Emin is most famous for her works My Bed and Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963 -1995, and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1999.

The artist has dubbed this latest neon piece a love letter to Margate, her former childhood home, which has suffered decades of decay but is now the focus of urban regeneration.

Emin says: 'This neon is for everyone who knows that Margate is a truly beautiful place. It's a shame that the Golden Mile has lost its lighted crowning glory. Margate needs neon to bring it back to its former self.'

Victoria Pomery, Director of Turner Contemporary, says of the commission: 'We were delighted when Tracey Emin agreed to work with us on a new commission for the façade of Droit House.

'It has taken a long time to realise the neon work but it looks fantastic and it projects a truly beautiful sentiment that can be shared by everyone. I am sure that it will soon become an iconic part of the Margate seafront, enjoyed by local residents as well as crowds of summer visitors.

'For Turner Contemporary the unveiling of I Never Stopped Loving You also marked the start of a countdown to the opening of our new gallery next year, and we are all very excited that Tracey has agreed to work with us on an exhibition in autumn 2011.'

Meanwhile in Bexhill, Antony Gormley's life-sized iron body casts installation, Critical Mass, is currently on display on the roof of the De La Warr Pavilion until August 2010. This is the first time the entire 60-piece collection has been exhibited in the UK since 2001.

Gormley says the Modernist building and its seaside landscape are the perfect complement to his 1995 work.

He says: 'It is great to have a chance to test this piece of sculpture against the clarity of Mendelsohn and Chemayeff's English masterpiece. I am excited to see these dark forms in the elements against the sea and in direct light. It will be like a sky burial. How these masses act in space is very important. The challenge is to make the distance intimate, internal.'